Report: Epsilon, Kobie and Brierley top loyalty marketers

Epsilon, Kobie Marketing and Brierley+Partners, have the strongest loyalty marketing offerings of any full-service loyalty vendor, according to a Feb. 16 Forrester Wave report that listed the three companies as "Leaders" in the field. The second tier of vendors, or "Strong Performers," was comprised of Aimia, Maritz, and Tibco Loyalty Lab.

The ranking was determined by the major loyalty marketing vendors' scores on 60 criteria, such as the strength of technology platform, integration capabilities, industry strategy and market presence. Epsilon, Kobie Marketing and Brierley were recognized as the best in particular because of the flexibility of their technology, program management services and analytics offerings.

“Their technology is able to support multiple or custom loyalty currencies, and can create and deliver offers in real time across a large customer loyalty base,” said Emily Murphy, customer intelligence researcher at Forrester and coauthor of the report.

She also cited Epsilon, Brierley and Kobie's ability to gather and run analytics on the growing amount of information that customers are willing to share as something that sets them apart.

The six vendors surveyed in the report were selected from a total of 30 companies that build and manage loyalty programs.

Of the three in the "Strong Performers" tier, the report credits each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Amia gets high marks on its strategic services but its technology and integration capabilities are cited as areas in need of improvement. While Tibco Loyalty Lab offers powerful technology and is rapidly expanding, it was found to be lacking in its customer service.

Murphy emphasized that all six vendors deserve credit, likening their inclusion in the Forrester Wave report as “being nominated for an award.”

“All these vendors know the importance of taking customer data, building it out and getting as close to a single view of the customer as possible,” said Murphy. “This is where loyalty is going and I think all these vendors are on that track.”

Correction: Brierley+Partners was incorrectly listed as a "Strong Performer" in Forrester's original report.